Method of producing carbid of calcium.



Patented .Iuly Il, |899.

W. S. HURRY. METHD'UF PRODUCING CARBID 0F CALCIUM.

(Application led Apr. 19, 1898.

ZSheets-Sheet I.

yQND Model.)

:HL claims man co., PHoToAuTNO., waswmmv. :L n.

No. 628,806. Patema July Il, |899. w. s. HURRY.

METHOD 0F PRODUCING CARBID 0F CALCIUM.

(Application filed Apr. 19, 1898.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2I TN: wams Parras co. PHoYo-Lmu., wAshwcmn. D. c.

VILLIAM SMITII IIORRY, OF SAULT STE. MARIE, "MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO E. V. DOUGLAS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD QF PRODUCING CARBlD OF CALCIUM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 628,806, dated July 11, 1899.

Application filed April 19, 1898. Serial No. 678,133. (No specimens.)

T tf/Z wiz/0m it may concern/.'-

Beit known that I, WILLIAM SMITH Hom-rv, a subject of IIer Majesty the Qneenoi' Great Britain, residing at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, have invented a new and useful Method ol Producing Oarbid of Calcium, of which the following is a specilication. f

The objects of the invention are to provide for the production of calcium carbid of 1o uniform grade and quality and to increase the output oI' the finished product, and to these and other ends the invention comprises the improvement hereinafter described and claimed.

In the practice of the invention buried portions oi the charge are reduced for the production of a pool of calcium carbid. This is done by feeding the charge around and passing the current between electrodes arranged substantially parallel and vertical and buried in the charge. The described position of the electrodes is productive ol' several beneficial results. For example, it permits of the feeding of the charge all around them, it protects them from the air, thereby increasing the length of their lives, it presents their tips in proper relation to the su rfaee of the pool, and it insures above their tips the presence of a mass of the incoming charge, toward which they direct escaping gases. A considerable portion of the heat generated is retained and utilized to maintain the pool of carbid in a molten condition until it spreads laterally beyond the field of reduction by keeping the charge around and above the electrodes of sufficient depth for this purpose. An advantage of this is that carbid of calcium is produced in relatively large cross-sectional area and of substantially uniform quality. Successive portions of the charge are brought into the iield of reduction for the described treatment by shifting the carbid and charge and electrodes vertically with respect to each other.

The process may be practiced by means of a variety of apparatus, of which a I'ew examples have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, and in which- Figures l, 2,

and 3 are elevational views illustrating, principally in central section, electric furnaces by means of which the process may be successfully practiced and clearly explained.

In what is believed to be the best embodi- 5; ment of apparatus for the practice of the in* yvention there is an open-top receptacle, veslFig. 2, 2 is such a receptacle.

sel, or wall for receiving and containing the material or charge to be acted upon and for conveying gas through suoli material or 6o charge. In Fig. l, l is such a receptacle. In In Fig. 3, 3 is such a receptacle. c In each case the receptacle is open for the escape oi' gas at its top, and it is adapted to contain material or a charge 5 4, which is to be acted upon. There are also inthe furnace pencils P and N of opposite polarity, or, in other words, between which the current passes, and the circuit, either direct or alternating, is completed. These pencils 7o extend below the top of the charge and within the receptacle, and they are arranged clear of its side walls, so that their tips may be deeply buried in the material or charge et, as shown. Use may also be made of pencil-holders 5, which are located inside of the side walls ot' the receptacle, so that jets of gas following the pencils and pencil-holders do not escape through the side walls of the receptacle, as would be the case if the holders projected or 8o extended through the side walls. l The circuit' connections are indicated at 6 and 7. To strike or start the are, the electrodes are connected by a high-resistance conductor, which may be accomplished by placing be- S5 tween the pencils powdered coke or the like and then charging the furnace with the carbid-producing materials. In the subsequent operation there is produced a pool l0 of iluid carbid oi calcium, which is traversed by the 9o current of electricity. This pool is at the zone of greatest temperature, and its surface is substantially level, and the material or charge 1i, preheated by the escaping gases, falls all around the electrodes into this pool, 9 5 which spreads out, as shown, because the Asuperimposed charge by reason of its depth retains a considerable portion of the heat generated, and thereby maintains the pool of carbid in a molten condition until it spreads Ioo laterally beyond the tiel/tl of reduction. Lhus the pool tilis the receptacle and receives the incoming,- charge. Since the top of the pool is @assoc so that the product is produced under the Q saine conditions, and consequently its grade level, it follows that the pencils should be vert tical and therefore parallel, or substantially wallsin order to permit the material or charge et to fall all around them into the pool, as described. l

To practice the described process and to cause the pool to occupy at alltimes the zone tacle with calcium carbid, means which shift the carbid and charge and electrodes vertiprovided in order to bring successive portions of the charge into the tield of reduction. Such means are susceptible ot' diiterent embodiments. For example, in the furnace shown in Fig. l the carbid and part of the charge are shifted vertically (in the sense that they travel upon the arc oi a large circle tangent to the line of the electrodes) away from or toward the electrodes, and the chamber or receptacle at the left-hand side ot' the figure is built up by the addition ot" suitable side and face plates. In the furnace shown in Fig. 2 the described movement maybe effected, because the bottom 8 is moved vertically. As

shown in Fig. 5, the pencils are adjusted in respect to the receptacle-for example, by i moving the receptacle vertically downward, and parts, as 0, may be added.

In the operation the pool spreads out laterally and practicallyv .tills the receptacle, is substantially maintained in the zone ot" highest temperature, and receives the incoming` and quality are practically uniform.

lt will be obvious to those skilled in the art f to which my invention appertains that modiso, and they should also be clear ot the side iications may be made in details without departing; from the spirit thereof. Hence I do not limit myself to the precise construction and arrangement ot' parts hereinabove set forth, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings; but, of highest temperature and to till the recep- 1 Having thus described the nature and obt jects ot' my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, iscally the one in respectto the other should be I rlhe method of making calcium carbid which consists in arranging electrodes of op- 4 posite polarity in a substantially vertical pot sition and adjacent to each other, feeding a suitable charge of raw material around the.

electrodes, causing an electric current to flow between the electrodes thereby reducing adjacent portions ot the charge and producing l an initial pool ot' carbid, keepintol the charge around the electrodes of such depth as to ref tain a considerable portion of the heat generated and thereby maintaining the pool of carbid in a molten condition until it spreads out laterally beyond the iield of reduction, and shitting' the carbid and charge vertically g with respectrto the electrodes to bring sucmateriahwhich falls all around the electrodes, t

cessi-ve portions of the charge into the field of reduction.

ln testimony whereof l have hereunto signed my name.

\VILLIAM SMITH HORRY. ln presence ofw- SAML. G. CARLTON, Wn. R. KENN, Jr. 

